[ARC REVIEW] “Bull Rush” By: Maggie Rawdon

Ramsey and Hazel’s story is finally here! “Bull Rush” is out now and free to read in Kindle Unlimited. While this dark romance can be read as a standalone, Ramsey appears in previous books that Maggie has written, so I recommend starting at the beginning of her releases and binge reading from there! Special thanks to Maggie and Wordsmith Publicity for allowing me to be a part of the blog tour! (You can also read an excerpt of Bull Rush.)

What is Bull Rush by Maggie Rawdon about?

Still married.
Those words change everything.

Now my should-be ex-husband, Ramsey Stockton, the former pro football star turned felon and hero who left this town—and me—behind years ago, is at my door offering me a deal with the devil.

If I let him stay and play his wife again for ninety days, he’ll give me a quiet divorce and his family ranch—the one my inn is on. When I scoff at the idea, he offers a million-dollar bonus to help my business float through this rough patch, but only if I’m his.

Then he’ll walk away, and I can walk down the aisle with my fiancé. Or I can say no and watch everything I’ve worked so hard for fall apart.

There’s only one answer I can afford to give him. But he knows everything about me—every hurt, every secret, and every single weakness I have, including him.

While Ramsey might want me, his brothers want him back in the family business. If there’s one universal truth in this town, it’s that Stockton men stop at nothing to get what they want.

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Review:

I’m going to make this review as spoiler free as possible, so I apologize in advance for the vague language!

Before we start talking about “Bull Rush,” it’s important to note that Maggie Rawdon’s books are all connected, in the sense that her Plays & Penalties series introduces a lot of the characters that we meet in her later series, Seattle Phantom and Queen City Chaos, with timelines overlapping throughout a few of the books, which is always really cool to read.

Why am I bringing up books that aren’t this one this review is about? That’s because her previous book, “Mine to Gain,” gives a lot of important context around Ramsey and where he’s at when we meet him in “Bull Rush.” You could technically read this as a standalone, but why wouldn’t you want to immerse yourself into the entire world first? If you’re going to read “Mine to Gain,” you might as well read the previous book, “Rival Hearts,” etc. etc.

So that brings us to Bull Rush. It’s darker than Maggie’s previous football centric books (the synopsis of the book spoils that Ramsey is currently a former football player, but since that’s how I first met him, it’s grouped in my head as being sports adjacent), although her previous “Mine to Gain” also had darker undertones than her previous ones, which I thought provided a smooth transition even though “Bull Rush” takes place at a totally different setting than we’ve ever been to before. (“Lords of Misrule” is dark too, but doesn’t link in the same way.) Before the book even started, I absolutely loved the dedication, it was so cute (and also foreshadowed what I was about to read).

Hazel might need Ramsey to save her (well, technically, their) business, but she’s not what you’d think of as a damsel in distress. She’s incredibly strong, and doesn’t let anyone walk all over her (Ramsey included). We don’t really learn a whole lot about Ramsey in any previous books, so getting to see where he grew up and his life before the Chaos was really cool. Hazel is not one to walk on eggshells around Ramsey, even though he gives her a crazy proposal after coming home to find her engaged to someone else. Finally seeing him meet his match – or rather, re-meet her – was a really intriguing premise, and even though I totally wouldn’t agree with him basically forcing her into the agreement IRL, it’s not real life, it’s a book, and starting out with such a big conflict made for such an interesting read.

I’m not usually a huge fan of second chance romance, but having met Ramsey before, that felt like the most plausible way that I could see him getting his own happily ever after. Despite how he acts, it’s not hard to root for him (and for him and Hazel). Overall, it was a book I didn’t want to put down, and I’m not so patiently waiting for whatever she comes up with next! (I’ll literally read anything as long as Maggie writes it).

Special thanks to Maggie for sending me an ARC and the gorgeous PR box you can see on my blog and Instagram – the book is available now!

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